Serena Williams won her 16th Grand Slam title and her first French Open championship since 2002 when she beat familiar foil Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday.
Saturday’s victory completed the No. 1-ranked Williams’ rebound from a shocking loss to 111th-ranked Virginie Razzano in the first round at Roland Garros a year ago. Since that defeat she’s 74-3, including titles at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the London Olympics and the season-ending WTA Championships.
Williams has won a career-best 31 consecutive matches. She improved to 14-2 against Sharapova, including victories in their past 13 meetings, with four of the wins this year.
At 31, Williams became the oldest woman to win a major title since Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in 1990 at age 33.